By Dan Harrison

Health Minister Peter Dutton has signalled he is willing to negotiate with crossbench senators to get his proposed $7 payment for Medicare services through Parliament.

But the controversial measure appears unlikely to make it through the upper house, with Labor, the Greens and the Palmer United Party all opposed.

Health Minister Peter Dutton.

Photo: Sean Davey

The government expects the introduction of the payment for GP visits, pathology and diagnostic imaging services and related changes will produce savings worth $3.5 billion over five years.

Speaking in Canberra on Friday after addressing the Australian Medical Association's national conference, Mr Dutton said Medicare spending was growing at an unsustainable rate.

"Medicare will collapse under its own weight unless we deliver the changes now to strengthen it," he said.

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The $7 fee proposal has been widely condemned by health groups who predict it will hit the poor and sick hardest and place additional pressure on already strained public hospitals.

Asked if he was prepared to negotiate on the measure to secure its passage through parliament, Mr Dutton said: "Legislation hasn't been introduced yet. In due course we'll have discussions with the independents. But I think most Australians want a strong Medicare going forward. And if you want a strong Medicare going forward, you have to support the changes that the government's proposing.

"I think Australians will say to the independents that they want them to support the strengthening of Medicare, and that's what the government's proposing here."

The Coalition would need the support of either Labor or the Greens to get the change through the current Senate. When newly-elected senators take their places in July, the Coalition would need the support of either Labor, the Greens or the Palmer United Party to pass legislation.

Just last week, Mr Dutton told ABC Radio he was not prepared to negotiate on the $7 fee, warning if it was blocked the Coalition would not set up a $20 billion endowment for medical research that will be funded by savings from the $7 fee and other health changes.

"People should understand that ... if they don't want to put extra money into medical research, then they can go down the obstructionist path of Labor and the Greens," Mr Dutton said.

But despite Mr Dutton's apparent willingness to negotiate, the $7 fee appears unlikely to become law, with Labor, the Greens and the Palmer United Party restating their opposition on Friday.

Labor's health spokeswoman Catherine King said it would not support the fee under any circumstances because it " attacks the fundamental architecture of Medicare."

"It is a fundamentally stupid health policy. Why on earth would you be putting a barrier in the way of people accessing the most efficient part of the system, primary care," Ms King said on Friday.

"We support medical research, but we don't think you fund it off the back of sick people."

Greens health spokesman Richard di Natale said the Coalition's proposal "goes in the opposite direction to where we should be heading".

"I'm more than happy to have a negotiation, providing the outcome is no co-payment and reducing existing out of pocket healthcare costs," Senator di Natale said.

"We're not going to support medical research if it comes at the cost of people who are already sick. There's no point in developing a cure if people can't afford it."

Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer said his Senators would not vote for the payment under any circumstances.

"No," he said. "No discussion, nothing, we're just going to oppose it. End of story, under no circumstances, gone, finished."

Under the proposal, the Medicare rebate would be cut by $5, and doctors would be paid a bonus if they charged concession card holders and children the $7 fee. After a concessional patient or child had paid the fee 10 times in a year, doctors would be paid an incentive to bulk-bill them for any subsequent services.

To deter patients from seeking care at hospital emergency departments to avoid paying the fee, the Commonwealth will allow state and territory governments to charge fees for public hospital treatment. But NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner and Victorian Health Minister David Davis have said they have no plans to charge such a fee.

The Australian Medical Association has said the GP fee proposal could be improved by offering stronger protections for indigenous Australians and people on low incomes.